Health Services Assistant Report: Bed Making, Waste, and Communication

This report examines the multifaceted role of a Health Services Assistant (HSA) within a hospital setting. It emphasizes the critical aspects of patient care, particularly focusing on the proper and safe execution of bed-making procedures. The report highlights the importance of hygiene, including handwashing and maintaining clean beds, pillows, and mattresses to minimize infection risks. Effective communication with patients is also discussed, stressing the need to understand their needs, preferences, and any physical limitations. Furthermore, the report addresses waste management strategies, emphasizing recycling and composting to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainability within healthcare facilities. The conclusion summarizes the key takeaways, reinforcing the significance of HSAs in creating a secure and comfortable environment for patients and minimizing risks. The report references several academic sources to support its findings and recommendations.

HEALTH SERVICES
ASSISTANT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
1 Considerations while making bed............................................................................................1
2 Importance of communication with clients before bed making process..................................1
3 Importance of clean bed, pillows and mattresses.....................................................................2
4 What is to be done after completion of bed making process...................................................2
5 List things that could be used to minimize wastes..................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Health services assistants are persons working in hospitals to perform certain administrative and
customer service roles. They ensure that proper medical care will be given in an appropriate
manner. This report is to determine satisfactory level of knowledge and performance required for
these professionals to achieve higher productivity.
TASK
1. Considerations while making bed
It is very important for health services assistants to make bed for patients in a proper and
safe manner. Various factors such as cleanliness and hygiene are to be considered in this process.
These professionals are required to wash their hands before making the bed in order to avoid
infections (Gulliford, and et. al., 2002). Another safety measure is concerned with height of bed.
It could be done by keeping height of the bed as per need of patients since, some of them are
physically disabled so their bed should be lower. This will reduce chances of falling down from
of bed and provide easy access to them. Dustbins to throw clinical wastes should be kept at
distance from their place as it will help in making their surroundings fresher. Along with that,
there is the need for proper gap between beds to provide more comfort to patients and their care
takers. These are some of the practices to satisfy service users in hospitals.
2. Importance of communication with clients before bed making process
Communication is the most important thing for health care assistants. It is essential to
interact with patients before making their beds. It helps in making them feel controlled as these
professionals provide them guidelines related with bed safety and responsibilities of patients
towards keeping their area clean. They tell them about the rules and regulations of hospitals that
are required to be followed. Proper communication makes them feel valued as these assistants
listen to their requirements and need to prepare comfortable and safe bed for them. It also assists
in identifying their personal disabilities and habits that could be risky if it is considered while
this process. Interaction is important to include such factors to provide them security. This is

necessary to avoid deficiency in services since, health service assistants are aware about nature
and problems of patients. Their bed could be made as per their comfort which will derive higher
level of satisfaction from them.
3. Importance of clean bed, pillows and mattresses
Hospital's bed is the place where patients spend most of their time when they are
admitted till discharge. Usually, there are risks of infection due to various harmful components.
These are absorbed by bed sheets, pillows and mattresses as these are in direct contact with the
patients (Andersen, , Rice, and Kominski, 2011). Therefore, it is required to clean these things in
a proper and hygienic manner on continuous basis to reduce the risks of cross infections and
related diseases that could be harmful for patients. This will help in minimizing the cases in
which bacteria passes to other persons who will be using same bed after discharge of one patient.
4. Things is to be done after completion of bed making process
Once the bed making procedure completes, these health services assistants are
responsible for taking care of this plan. It will help in evaluating this process and minimizing the
deficiencies on timely basis. There are certain guidelines that could be followed by these
professionals in order to ensure safety and comfort of patients.
These are as follows-
 There are potential chances of falling from bed as patients are mostly unconscious due
to ill health and medicines given to them (Kane, 2006). These professionals have to
take care of such issues to safeguard them from serious injuries.
 Continuous evaluation is required to identify related risks to take active actions against
this.
 Patient safety is most important factor for hospital's management. There is need to keep
cleanliness in bed, pillows and mattresses to protect them from infective components.
 It is essential to encourage patients to get involve in this bed care process as it will help
in creating more comfortable environment.
 This is important to maintain, inspect and evaluate equipments such as beds, mattresses
etc. to analyse hazardous factors in order to remove the risks related with such issues.

 These professionals are responsible to assess needs of patients on timely basis to fulfill
their requirements properly.
5 List things that could be used to minimize wastes
Wastes in hospitals is related with material generated out of health care activities. These
are usually hazardous for environment and human beings. There is need for proper strategies for
waste management in order to reduce risks involved in such medical wastage. Some of the
measures that could be followed in this context are as follows-
Recycling- This procedure is followed by most of the hospitals. It is the process of
converting waste materials into reusable things. This will help in minimizing level of disposable
wastage. As most of the waste of hospitals has been recycled so there will be less amount of
dangerous substances in our surrounding. It will help in creating positive impact of institution on
society's mind.
Compost system- It is an natural process of recycling and it is very helpful in waste
management in medical care services (Edelman, Mandle, and Kudzma, 2013). This includes
composting items inside the soil to enhance the fertility. Hospitals can install compost system to
dispose waste materials like coffee and tea bags, papers, food scraps, cotton, medicine wrappers
etc. This will assist in reducing presence of harmful particles generated from these materials.
Paperless- Going paperless could be another good option in this scenario. It could be
implemented by using techniques like e-invoicing and record system of patients (Kane, 2006).
There should not be use of paper in order to reduce wastage it could be replaced by electronic
modes rather then registers and diaries for record keeping purpose.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that, bed making process is very important role
of health services assistants. There is huge importance of managing the activities related with
bed care to minimize the risk factors and provide patients with an safe and healthy environment.
Waste management of medical wastage is also important to reduce impact of its hazardous
elements on environment and humans.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Kane, R.L. ed., 2006. Understanding health care outcomes research. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Bridges, K., and et. al., 2005. Quality of life and mental health services. Routledge.
Andersen, R.M., Rice, T.H. and Kominski, G.F., 2011. Changing the US health care system: Key
issues in health services policy and management. John Wiley & Sons.
Gulliford, M. and et. al., 2002. What does' access to health care'mean?. Journal of health
services research & policy. 7(3). pp.186-188.
Edelman, C.L., Mandle, C.L. and Kudzma, E.C., 2013. Health Promotion Throughout the Life
Span-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Online
How Hospitals, Recyclers Can Make Recycling Healthcare Plastics Economically Viable. 2016.
[Online]. Available through :<https://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/12/hospitals-
recyclers-can-make-recycling-healthcare-plastics-economically-viable/>.